My Grey Horse + The Thief + I Saw Dinosaur + The Council + Jonny Quits
Tue, 16th August 2011
The Monarch
8.00pm - £5.00 adv
My Grey Horse Stratford Upon Avon, England (2009 – present) ‘My Grey Horse’ are an alternative rock quintet formed by brothers John, Peter and Oobah Butler. Together with friends Tom Mott and Joe Nicklin, the five-piece began writing in mid-2008 and in late 2009 they began working on transforming the work into a live and working act. Since doing so there has been a groundswell of buzz around the band; attributed to their live shows and impressive multimedia. Through the radio waves they’ve been particularly successful; with air time and interviews on both independent digital DAB and national radio stations. As recently as January 2011, BBC Coventry and Warwickshire named ‘My Grey Horse’ their band of the month and featured their music, videos and interviews throughout the site. Musically, the band are not easily slotted into conventional rock music categories; while some of their material is based on usual sounds and song structures, their songs pit 3 part melodic vocal harmonies against swirls of rhythmic guitars, keyboards and percussion. Most Continents have influenced the group; Australia’s ‘The Drones’, Europe’s ‘The Zombies’ and America’s ‘Ted Danson’. A recent support slot alongside Moshi Moshi’s acclaimed signing ‘Hot Club de Paris’ was one of the highs of a busy 2010, closely followed by celebrated slots in North and East London. As well as being featured in substantial music blogs and websites ‘My Grey Horse’ in a BBC write-up were told they were capable of “classic pieces of powerpop” and also, “the opposite direction with songs that are reminiscent of the folk-pop scene of the ’60s”. In December they digitally released their sophomore EP, ‘The Saltway’ on sites such as Amazon, Itunes and Spotify. Having worked like madmen on it (recording, distributing, funding and promoting in a manic fashion) they’ve earned the positive and successful reception they’re receiving. David Gilyeat from the BBC tweeted the single ‘Waste Of Air’ as one of his top 5 tracks of 2010, whilst it was enjoying a run in Amazing Radio’s chart. With impressive music videos (viewable on their site) they’ve assured there are plenty of endeavours to keep themselves as busy. www.mygreyhorse.co.uk
“The Thief are the latest of several young and promising noises from the Bergen music underground. This is rocked and melodious postpunk with addictive choruses. The slighlty pitched, delicious synths, fuzzed bass, golden melodies and excellent guitar riffs has Sonic Youth/Klaxons/The Whitest Boy Alive flickering before your ears. Thieves? Perhaps, but it sounds like a lot more than random snatching.
The Council’s music is very immediate and instantly likeable, although at the same time quite laidback..This isn’t pre-packaged tripe, nor is it manufactured for money and greed, it’s purely about the music. Because of this fact The Council will never reach the heady heights of 24/7 fame, instead they’ll have to put up with respect from their peers and a few turns on ‘Later with Jools Holland.’ ‘Too good to be famous?’ possibly.
(Pete Worral, RoomThirteen.com)
